Margie Traxler Discusses Health Food Innovations at Grain Free Mama’s

Episode Overview

Episode Topic

Join us for an enlightening episode of Holistic Health we dive into the transformative journey of Margie Traxler, founder and CEO of Grain Free Mama’s. Margie shares her personal and professional evolution from a concerned parent to a pioneering entrepreneur in the health food industry. We explore how her dedication to creating grain-free, sugar-free, and allergen-free food options is revolutionizing the way we think about diet and health. This episode sheds light on the importance of understanding food’s impact on our bodies and the power of innovative, healthy eating solutions.

Lessons You’ll Learn

Listeners will gain insightful lessons on the significant impact of dietary choices on health and well-being. Margie Traxler discusses the challenges and triumphs of navigating food allergies and sensitivities, both personally and professionally. You’ll learn about the science behind food-related health issues and the benefits of a grain-free diet. Margie’s stories and tips provide practical advice for anyone looking to improve their health through mindful eating and natural food choices, empowering listeners to make informed decisions about their diets.

About Our Guest

Margie Traxler is the founder and CEO of Grain Free Mama’s, a company specializing in healthy baking mixes and baked goods free from grains, sugars, and common allergens. With a background in biology and over two decades of experience in the restaurant industry, Margie brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to the health food market. Her personal experiences with her daughter’s health challenges inspired her to create products that cater to those with similar dietary restrictions. Margie’s commitment to quality and health has made Grain Free Mama’s a beacon for those seeking healthier food alternatives.

Topics Covered

In this episode, we delve into a range of enlightening topics with Margie Traxler, the innovative mind behind Grain Free Mama’s. We begin by exploring Margie’s personal journey and the founding of her company, which aims to revolutionize healthy eating by offering grain-free, sugar-free, and allergen-free products. The discussion then shifts to the broader implications of diet on health, emphasizing the connection between food choices and autoimmune diseases. Margie shares her expertise in creating specialized food products that cater to individuals with dietary restrictions, providing insights that are invaluable for anyone dealing with or interested in food sensitivities and healthier lifestyle choices.

Our Guest: Margie Traxler’s Role in Training Medical Professionals on the Power of Diet

Episode Transcript

Surani Fernando: Hi everyone. Welcome to another episode of Holistic Health Habits, the podcast where we explore innovative ways to live a healthier, more wholesome life. Speaking about nutrition and other health related topics, I’m your host, Surani Fernando, and today we have a special guest who is revolutionizing the way we think about eating healthy. Joining us is Margie Traxler, the founder and CEO of Grain Free. And her extensive background in biology, and her 22 years of experience as a restaurant owner to create delicious and healthy baking mixes and baked goods that are free from grains and sugars. Welcome to the show, Margie.

 Margie Traxler: Oh, thank you for having me.

 Surani Fernando: And I’m saying it right. It’s not. It’s Margie, right? Not Margie.

Margie Traxler: Yes it is. That’s correct. And absolutely. I’m  honored to be here. So. Yeah.

 Surani Fernando: Great. So, Margie, just first of all, you know, your story is super layered. You know, I was reading your website from your biology training. You know, life you to where you are today. Can you take us to the beginning, the very beginning of your story, and tell us how you eventually got to where you are now with green Free-market Commerce?

Margie Traxler: Yeah. So I’ve always I’ll go a little bit before how it starts with my daughter which led to the company. But I’ve always been interested in food and I just kind of have had kind of a knack for it. You know, some kids can read early, they can do. I understood, like how the body works early. And, you know, back when I was ten years old, my grandpa got cancer and I told my dad, I said, dad, someday they’re going to figure it out. It’s because of what we eat and the things that we use that we ingest. Right. And but then to fast forward then,  when my daughter was six years old,  she just bent over screaming one night, and so I thought her appendix had burst. We rushed to the emergency room. Everything comes back negative. I, my sister, who also is interested in food, natural vitamins and stuff, she was like, you know, do you think it could be food combinations? And I’m like, well, probably, but how do I even know? You know? And , so we, we, you know, we went through all the tests in the emergency room.

Margie Traxler: They offered to take her appendix out, believe it or not. And I was like, no, thank you, we’ll keep them. And yeah, we ended up flying across the country to, you know, in the US we don’t have a lot of,  I’m also a dual citizen American and Canada and up in Canada, they call them naturopaths, physio path naturopaths. And we don’t have that in the United States. We keep our medical convention and natural medicine far apart. And so I found the best natural doctor that I could that had some conventional training. So we went off to Florida and five minutes, five minutes in his office and he says, well, when little Anna Mae eats wheat and sugar, it’s making a toxic little punch and it’s burning holes in her intestines. And I was like, okay, then. And that sentence was like the first shock that day. And I look over at her, her eyes are watering, you know, I’m like, that’s good. We can do this. You know? We’ll be gluten free now. That was a new concept to me at that time. And so we what.

 Surani Fernando: Year was that? Just to, just to understand like 2004.

Margie Traxler: So that was before IBS before you know a lot of that. So then we go off to the best natural food store we can find. We’re looking for something gluten free. I’m like, it’s not going to be the end of life. You know, we’ll be good. And, but the minute I entered that grocery store, this was a new experience for me, but it’s not a new experience for people. I walked into the grocery store. That grocery store went from a place that we went and tried and adventures into a hostile environment, and it was immediately different and has never been the same. And we’re walking down the aisles and I’m holding her hand and all I can think, because I know that cheap fillers that they put in foods and I was like, can eat that, can eat, that can eat, that can eat that. And all of a sudden almost everything on the shelves was off limits to us. And so we did find a gluten free product. I was, to be honest, I was alarmed at the large list of ingredients. And so we stood outside the grocery store. I like anime. It’s okay. You know, we can do this. I’m trying to be, you know, really positive for the positive. Yeah. And so we’re face to face. We take a bite. One, two, three. Let’s take a bite. The stuff explodes like sawdust in our mouths and her eyes start watering. Her chin is quivering and I stuck out my finger to her and I said, mommy’s a scientist. And me. Pinky promised we will develop the products that we wish were available for us today. And so that started me and, you know, as opposed to a lot of the gluten free products and different things that have come out, I was never looking to create a gluten free product.

Margie Traxler: I left that office, I did my research, I talked to other doctors and I was told to expect that, that it was 100% normal, that my child would develop between five or more autoimmune diseases in the span of her lifetime. And I was like, not my child. And I also refused to accept that we had to eat inferior food. And, you know, peer pressure works both ways. So I said, we’re not going to envy their food. They’re going to numbers. And right. So taste and texture was super important. She was my youngest. My kids were,  you know, six, eight and and ten and, and honestly, the products were so inferior. I thought, there is no way my children are going to eat this stuff, like, ever. And so that’s what started me on my journey was that jolt and it and it really woke up a passion in me, which led to a lot more in the journey. But that’s the beginning. That is the beginning. , okay. You know, I started creating the products. My goal was to, you know, create things that could be eaten safely for a lifetime. And, you know, a couple years later, my kids started, my daughter started several years later, she started asking for more and more food in her lunch, you know, and, and, you know, they were just taking more and more food to lunch. And I was like, are you guys really that hungry? Like, I feed you a big breakfast, a big hot breakfast before you leave the house. And she pipes up and says, no, mommy. All my friends want to eat my food because their tummies feel better.

 Surani Fernando: Oh really? Oh my gosh.

Margie Traxler: And so I knew that I was on to something, and I had a house full of kids constantly as my kids grew up and all their friends liked eating our food. And so that started me on this journey. By the time she was 17, we went on college visits and she of my children. We were entrepreneurs. That’s where I said the restaurant, you know, business came into it. And so my two older boys were definitely going entrepreneur. First off, she was going to go traditional college to begin with. And so we go out, we looked at colleges and I was like, after three visits I turned to her. I said, you can’t, you’ll starve to death if you live on campus. And then I went, you know what? There’s a big problem out there, and I have a solution for it, because I’d already made all these different products by that time. And that’s what led me to formally start the business, which was, you know, officially. March 8th. March 14th, 2018.

 Surani Fernando: Okay. So,  you know, from that moment of, I guess it was 2004, your daughter was quite young, I think you mentioned. So you were just doing it, sort of making the products and selling them, or just, .

Margie Traxler: I wasn’t even selling them at first. I did not start selling them until. But I constantly had people coming over. I got phone calls from people who then tell people who would then call other people who would then. And so I was like, this is just a lot, you know, and, and one of my friends is like, you need to start a business, you know? So. Right. , and so that’s kind of how, you know, it started. The products where I originally went to baking mixes was my first goal because I wanted,  I wanted my daughter to be able and all of my children. Right. So everybody has this kind of familial thing which we can get into maybe later. But,  I wanted her to be able to go and spend the night at people’s houses. And so, you know, the friends would be, like, in a panic. Oh, my gosh, what am I going to feed her? I’m like, you don’t have to worry about it. She knows what to eat. And she would actually take the crate mixes and prepare dinner for everybody else. And so it was it became a real confidence booster for her specifically. And, you know, because when she first had come back, one of the things she said is she said, I don’t belong at the party table anymore because she couldn’t eat.

 Surani Fernando: Whatever party food. Gosh. Yeah.

Margie Traxler: And there’s so many people that are in that that don’t really fit at the table. And so I was like, well, let’s just make our own table then. So. Okay.

 Surani Fernando: Yeah, it’s really interesting that you said that, you know, at that young age, all the kids wanted to eat the food because it made their tummies feel better because I just, you know, just think about us getting these all these issues and feeling the food affects, you know, negative effects in our bodies when we’re, like, older. I didn’t think about, you know, kids. I just thought, you know, you know, you watch them eating, you know, gummy bears and like, potato chips that have all this stuff put into them. And, and they’re fine. They’re running around. They have lots of energy. But you know, as we see we feel it a lot more. But that’s quite interesting.

Margie Traxler: Well, and you know, it’s funny because medicine I will put this in here. So you know I met with different doctors. Well you know, even from the time my kids were little and they were like, well, you know, people don’t really, you know, develop allergies until, you know, two but really more like 5 or 6. And I was like, that’s so not true. Like, that’s like when you say to somebody, don’t tell your child to apologize. And then when they’re six, they’re going to become polite. No, they’ve been there all along. It’s just that they’re so their little bodies are so new and they process so fast. And we call it colic and we call it all these other things. But really it’s the same problems that people have when they’re. Yeah.

 Surani Fernando: And I’m kind of curious. This is just going back to something you said earlier. You know, you had this like, intuition, this instinct about, you know, the foods that we’re eating and they’re not making us feel good. When you spoke to your dad, like, how old were you? Or when was that? Because I sort of think about my, you know, growing up, you know, in the 80s and 90s and just growing up in the era of. Fast processed food boom. , so I’m curious as to when that was.

Margie Traxler: You know what? I will say two things. One, I was ten when that happened, and but but the, . My parents, we were economically challenged. My father was an Episcopalian minister. My mom didn’t work out of the home then. She was a school secretary when she went older. And so we didn’t have a ton of money for food. And so we grew a lot of our own food. We hunted, we fished, you know, and so I had the wonderful advantage of economics causing me to have a very healthy diet. And so the,  but today junk food is super cheap. Back then it wasn’t, you know, I’m 61. Sorry about that. I’m 61. Now let me turn that down. So,  you know, now we make the junk food is is not only the food that we give in the food banks, but also it’s the cheapest. And,  and so, you know, it wasn’t like that when I was young. It just wasn’t like that. And, , but also, I just understood food, and I kind of understood the body from a really young age. And it wasn’t necessarily a taught thing, like, you know, often, you know, people would be mystified by their conditions. And my dad would ask me, well, it turned out that I was right a lot. And so people would go, what does Marty think? Which is so funny because I was a child. Wow.

 Surani Fernando: Oh, wow. Child prodigy on the scale.

Margie Traxler: I just think it was a gift. You know, I think we’re given different gifts and it’s meant for this time. I think, to be honest, Ithink  was born to be in the time that we live in now, because of what’s happening with food, somebody’s got to stand up and say, this is not right and right. I think you know that that is part of the reason why I’m here and why I’m talking. And I’m not unreasonable. A lot of people step up and they’re so extreme that they take quality of life out of the mix. And. Yeah. And they and and to be honest, a lot of the healthy foods are weird. No one wants to eat weird food. You know, there’s a lot of things that we’re now pulling out of the ocean, which is so funny because the ocean is super polluted. But,  but we’re pulling all this stuff out like it’s supposed to be so good for us, and. And these tricks and these things and, and I think what’s happened is we’ve become so micro focused in the food industry,  and in general that we’ve lost sight of the big picture.

 Surani Fernando: , so,  you know, you, you have like your microbiology background, your science background. How did you use that? Like, and in the way to develop your products and also what scientific principles do you use and techniques, you know, to, to apply to your formulation? Yes.

Margie Traxler: So I’m not going to tell you the techniques for the formulations. Right. That’s intellectual. Proprietary.

 Surani Fernando: Yeah.

Margie Traxler: But  what I will tell you is this my viewpoint is totally different. I am a natural food scientist that was trained by myself. Naturally. I had you know, I’ve had big entities that did approach me. They wanted me to write a book on it, and I was like, no, you all have your own training. You do your own thing. I’m going to do my own thing over here. And part of that is because there’s never been a time in han history where the manipulation of what is on this planet has been here before us, will be here after us. Man’s manipulation of that has never turned out well. You know, Dolly, did the cloning of Dolly. Well, the cloning of Dolly, which, you know, started in the 70s, and that didn’t work out well, because time is encapsulated in the cell. We can’t change that. You know, you can call it abundance, the universe, Mother nature, God, you know, whatever you want to karma, but the force that is greater than us and in this abundant universe and and in nature, when we go against that, like, who are we? We’re here for a little snippet of time. Nature has been here way before us and way after us. So my whole viewpoint in coming in was to learn how nature’s bounty supplies the body, which is a wonderful machine, and then take different combinations of things and put it together.

Margie Traxler: You know, we started eating like in my case, and I will kind of mention this. So here’s just a little tidbit of that is that we started out gluten free. But remember the problem was wheat and sugar. Right now with my oldest son, I found out his worst was corn sugar. My middle son was oats and sugar. Okay, so everybody had a different take on it, right? Because everybody is different, even within the same family. So we carry the gene for celiac and gluten sensitivity. Everybody has a genetic marker that doesn’t really matter. Just because you have a genetic disposition doesn’t mean you have to develop it. And so we started out gluten free, and what I noticed was she was just a little bit better. But then she started to get puffy. A lot of that was all the chemicals that they put into the gluten free products that they’re actually in a lot of ways worse for you than the traditional ones and because of the chemicals, added chemicals and, , and the way that they process and extract things, you know, when you pull something out of nature and take a part of it, the body may recognize that as, , an invader. And if it does, the way that our immune system works is that you get a T cell response when you get a T cell response.

Margie Traxler: That’s what we call vaccination. That’s the background. I want it to be a genetic surgeon. At one point in time I studied virology. I studied all these things, but what I found was I. I was more interested in nature, in working with nature, in discovering what has been here for eons before us and will be here eons after us. And so that was how I did. But we went from gluten free to grain free. Then we went gluten grain, sugar free. And all of a sudden that was a major breakthrough. Well, and this is what I’m. So every member of the edible grass ingredient which is wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt, sorghum millet, teff, corn, rice and cane sugar, they’re all grasses. So 30% of the world is allergic to grass. Yet we eat baked goods made out of 90% sugars. And then we wonder why autoimmune is skyrocketing and inflammation is skyrocketing. And then we’ve sprayed these crops with these chemicals that our bodies are interpreting as dangerous. We’re immunizing ourselves from these ingredients. And then we wonder why, you know, we act like it’s such a mystery that autoimmune is skyrocketing. No, it’s our choices. It’s what we’ve done. And now we’re trying to trick nature again by coming up with a gluten free wheat. Well, what if wheat’s not the whole problem? What if it’s the entire edible grass family? You know, the research that was done in 1956 through 1958 was done in the UK after World War two.

Margie Traxler: It was based on things they had noticed during World War two, when they’d had rations and they ran out of stuff. And so they basically they did the research on wheat, barley and rye. They didn’t do it on the entire edible grass family. So if you look at those proteins, those proteins are almost bioidentical. But you know, and but in parallel with that, then the farmers, you know, you would raise cows naturally and they would eat the grass and then you would feed them hay during what we call flu season, which is basically just when green things are not growing. Right. So there’s more carbon in the air. That’s what transmits more viruses, you know, all these different things. It all works with nature, right. But then we started feeding cows grains and oh my gosh, they got bigger. Well, they didn’t get bigger. They got inflamed. So then we began a practice of having these grain fed animals in a feedlot. So they’re getting they’re getting more and more unhealthy. So we’re feeding people the unhealthy meat, the unhealthy milk. So you look at all the diet fads that are coming and going. They’re all based on proteins, but it all goes back to the edible grass family.

 Surani Fernando: And so yeah, that just like gives me so many things were happening there. And I’m just like oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah definitely.

Margie Traxler: Even if you think about it, you know, like here’s, here’s just another part to prove that point. Right. There’s way more concussions now. Well, when I was playing sports we got knocked upside the head and nothing ever happened. Why? Because we were less inflamed. Now that we’re have such high inflammation in our body, obviously it’s in our brain too. You know, if you had an inflamed thb and you hit it, it’s going to hurt ten times more and cause way more damage because it’s already inflamed. And that’s the problem that we’re having. I think that within sports we need to have and, , low or no inflammatory diets that go along with playing sports where you could get hit in the head, different things. And I think that we, what we realize is a lot of the,  concussions and things like that would go down. We gotta, we gotta reduce the inflammation in the people or we’re going to continue to have major problems.

 Surani Fernando: Yeah, definitely. And tell me about some of your, like top selling products, most popular products. You know, obviously with the aim of reducing inflammation that, you know, the other foods are causing. , yeah. What are you seeing?

Margie Traxler: So what I’ve done is I took the pandemic kind of had a different. I’ve had kind of an evolution because we’re changing how we shop. And that’s natural from the pandemic. When we couldn’t go to the grocery store, different things popped up. And so I right now on the market, I have my crate mixes. There’s four different flavors of crate mix and the pizza crust mix. So they’re low inflammatory. They’re so everything I make is not just edible grass ingredient free which is gluten free, grain free and sugar cane, sugar free, cane and corn sugar free, but also dairy free because of what happened with the cows, right? Dairy free? Botanical nut free. The reason for that is because we’re doing things with nuts that are not healthy. Nuts carry mold, but they mold the color of the flower. So you don’t necessarily know. So we botanical nuts are off the table there and then soy free also because soy exacerbates the hormone balance within people. And then there’s nothing artificial no flavors, no colors. And I don’t even need preservatives in there. And they’re like stable for probably ten years. But I’d say a good five years is easy, you know? Wow. And because we’re happy because what’s happening is they’re happy together. The ingredients that I put together, they like each other, so they’re happy being together. They don’t fight with each other, you know? Yeah. And yeah, I mean, but then I also on the other side of it, I did write a book, , a food breakthrough book, where I talk and help people, you know, to make healthy changes. And then also I have a food breakthrough cookbook that I put out there too.

Margie Traxler: Everything in there can be made dairy free, botanical nut free, everything. So all the recipes and that as well. The Food Breakthrough Book and cookbook are available worldwide. The mixes right now are only available in America. And so I, I’m actually moving towards a different approach. I’m going to be opening at cafe, my first cafe. I want to get,  open that cafe. I want to do my own production. The biggest problem for companies coming out right now is the high cost of the middleman. And because, you know, if you go to the market, specialty products are way higher priced. And that’s not fair because autoimmune doesn’t know an income bracket. And so, you know, I’m doing a different approach to be able to bring in-house my production. And I also want a production produce regionally because you know and I was part of the sustainable food system dialogs. I was also invited to G20, the food security for that was in Bali. And, you know, so and I’ve been on the United Nations conversations as well and, and different things and everybody talks about,  the that we have a food shortage, but what we actually have is a glut in some areas and a and a lack in others, because we produce too much in certain regions and not enough in others. And so my approach with grain free mamas is to, to produce in country, in region. And because it’s healthier, we can put out education, we can help local food banks, we can get involved with people, we can grow in that and then plop it all over the world. So,  that’s what I’m switching to now.

 Surani Fernando: Sounds. Yeah, definitely like an amazing mission. And so interesting what you were saying about that. You don’t have preservatives because, you know, right now, as I, you know, learn more about, like, food and, you know, speaking with people like yourself, you know, something that I always like, stop myself like, before buying something is, is if it’s packaged, like if it’s made, if I, if I don’t know how it was made and if it’s shelf stable, then there has to be something in there that makes it shelf stable. And then I start having the questions of what is it? Is it okay? Like so  so with your products, it’s just everything your prioritizing, the prioritizing the fact that it doesn’t, that it can be shelf stable, that it doesn’t.

Margie Traxler: Yeah. So the difference between what I make is this okay, conventional food science uses laboratories and chemicals and processes that are not normal to nature to extract things and shove things together to get the flavor profile that they want. So they supply what if it comes out and it’s got a bad taste or a bad color? They grab something that is chemically derived to basically to make it look and feel and taste like something it’s not. I work with nature, so I spent, you know, ten, 15 years in, you know, in development of these products, finding things that naturally like being together. So food products that like being together, the ingredients like being together. So they’ll kind of hang out at the park until you’re ready to cook them. And so that’s the difference. They’re not mitigating. They’re not running away from each other. They’re not doing anything. So in a dry mixed state they can stay and just stay there. Right. Just like you would have a bag of flour. A bag of flour can stay and not go rancid over a long period of time because it’s just kind of hanging out there, you know. Yeah. And so it’s a different approach. And, you know, chemicals, a lot of the chemicals that we use as preservatives,  could also be embalming agents. I mean, some of them are okay. And so, you know, we talk about how somebody gets gray when they get older. Mhm. That’s because they’re slowly embalming themselves with the food they eat. So you know I don’t want to embalm myself. Not going to do the job for the caretaker. So I don’t want those ingredients in any products that I have. You know. And you know I have a lot more shelf that are ready to go into production once I open my cafe.

Margie Traxler: I have, you know, muffin mixes, roti bread. I’ve got cookies, you know, different things that I can go in to market with. And, , and then I’m going to start playing with the frozen, the shelf stable, find out how long can they stay together in that environment if it’s natural. Right. And. Yeah , but  I agree with you.  I think that we’ve lost sight of two things. One. Nature is not against us. And two. Our bodies were, you know, like what I told you with the children is important because we have. We’ve eaten. So we’ve toxified our bodies enough that we can’t hear what our body is saying anymore. And when you take all that out, you know, I’m allergic to. I have seasonal allergies. My family is allergic to grass, so. Hello. No wonder we have a problem with it, right? But do you know that I actually got rid of 95% of my seasonal allergies now because I don’t eat them? So because I don’t eat them, when the higher pollen comes around, I can get a little bit of symptoms, but not that much because it’s not a double whammy. I’m not eating that all day long. I’m not already inflamed. I don’t already have that reaction going year round. And so,  you know, there may be a couple days that I take like a I’m not against, you know, allergy pills or whatever. You know what? You know what modern medicine offers as long as it you know, if we live in the 20th century. So, you know, there’s some things that the medicines are good for, but they’re not good for everything.

 Surani Fernando: Yeah definitely. What I say, because I also come from that the background of, you know, medical science and covering the pharmaceutical industry for like 15 years. And so like my interest has that has fueled my interest really to for the natural. So very similar to you. , but,  you know, I always say that it’s like a powerful tool that you reserve as a last resort. You know, when you can’t do the front end, right? And then you’re like, okay, I’m struggling here. I need that lifeline. So you go to the prescriptions. But yeah,  just going straight to that as soon as there’s a symptom. Yeah. I think that that’s, you know, fueling the problem really. And. Yeah, just like putting a Band-Aid on it, but, . Yeah. Go on.

Margie Traxler: I was just going to say, too, it’s almost like the boy that cried wolf, like, you know, we take away our body’s recognition of what’s happening, and then we wonder why we have such a sick population. I’m right. Yeah.

 Surani Fernando: Definitely. And, you know, like, just when I was preparing for this, this interview, you know, thinking about gluten free, you know, there has been that narrative about, yes, you know, gluten is the problem. And we need to eat gluten free, but then people are just then jumping into obviously there are people with a gluten intolerance. So they get the symptoms. And then there are others that are like, yeah, I think I should be gluten free because that’s what people say. But then they jp into buying products and ordering products on the menu that are gluten free. And I think there are some misconceptions there on gluten free products and what they actually have in them that are all also very inflammatory. Do you want to talk a little bit about that? And, you know, maybe from a perspective of giving listeners some, some, you know, good advice on how to approach the that conversation?

Margie Traxler: Yeah, I think,  like, , okay, so if you’re allergic to grass, you shouldn’t eat Very rarely should you have edible grass ingredients. So and you know, you see this uptick right now in oat milk. Oat milk is good for you know, it’s not oat was the thing that you give to the cheapest animals. And now we’re feeding it to hans, kind of like we did with soy. You know, it’s just like, go back and look at the history people. And,  and, , so you know, that those things are just going to cause high inflammation. It’s just going to make you sicker so that, you know, the problem with the gluten free products, a lot of them are made with sorghum. They have a rice base. They have now white rice. , you know, you hear all the time, you know, brown rice is better versus white. White rice actually has the lowest of what we call the glutinous part, even though they don’t call it gluten. And the other edible grasses, it is the lowest,  percentage of the problem is in that. Right. But,  but the thing is, you know, for people that have diabetes the minute they eat these gluten free or sugar free treats, but if they have, you know, wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt, millet, sorghum teff, corn, rice that turns into sugar in their body exacerbates their diabetes. Their problem is the sugar pl. It’s an edible grass sugar problem. And,  you know, once you eliminate or reduce, then, you know, and my thing is this, like, when I’m going out and traveling, if I’m somewhere, I, you know, and I really am like, I really want to have, you know, something that’s gluten free.

Margie Traxler: I can have it for that time. Like, I’m not,  I’m not like, I’m not the food police, okay? And so you can have that within reason. But just if you’ve been clean of it and you have it, you know that if you have a problem, if you have a problem with it the next day, you’re going to want it again, because it it exacerbates that, almost like a morphine effect that we have from the edible grasses that causes this. You know, we just want more and more and more. And so if you have that, you just have to know you’re going to start that cycle up again. But you know, there I would try and stay away from it. People that  have that especially like oh positive people which are northern European, a lot of northern Europeans are, are o positive people, hunter gatherers. The edible grasses do not get digested well in the oh plus population. And so, you know, be plan accordingly. Have a treat when you want to, but be careful and don’t think that it’s not going to cause you, you know, some stuff. Can you get over it? Yes. As long as you don’t overdo it. I don’t have any of that in my home. Nothing right of it.

Margie Traxler: And so when I go out, if I choose to have something, I can the other thing I just want to touch in really quick is, is that the way that our mind chemistry works is that we have this fight or flight, right? So when we say so, when somebody says to me, you can’t eat wheat, I’m like, no, I can eat anything I want to, I just don’t want to. Mhm. And the minute you go, I can’t eat wheat. Now what happens is you trigger a mental response in your brain that goes, oh we want it, we want it, we need it, we have it. It sets that up. And so you set yourself up for failure. That’s why modern dieting,  is so hard. Because you’re setting yourself into this, this fight, fight, fight mode immediately. And then you want to be successful. And then people wonder why they fall off the cart. Well, you fall off the cart because you can’t keep adrenaline going that long. Your adrenal glands get tired and like, stop. And then you go back to the old diet. So, you know, a lot of it is in how you think about it, how you approach it. , and do you think that the edible grasses are, you know, gluten free is not free of gluten? Okay. So I’m going to leave you just on this part with a little story. Okay. So if you and I were at we’re out to eat and there’s this. Oh, do you want to, you know, gluten? There’s.

Margie Traxler: We have this plate of brownies. We’re like, I want a brownie. So we order it so that the waiter comes out to us and he says he hands it down. It smells delicious. The presentation is beautiful. But then he leans down between us and he goes, there’s a little small chance a little bit of dog doodoo got in those brownies. Okay. It doesn’t matter how it smells. Doesn’t matter how it looks. You and I would look at each other and go, well, I’m not touching that. So my thing is this. So gluten free can have up to 20 parts per million of gluten in it, right? And so it’s not free of gluten. It’s supposedly less of a problem. But if one part per million makes you sick, it’s not safe. So you have to decide do I take the risk with it or do I not? And for 30% of the world, the risk is is probably going to lead to disease. If you get down that rabbit hole for 70% of the population, it’s just a risk. It’s not a health concern, but it’s knowing your body. And that’s what I would say. Find out find out if you’re allergic. If you’re allergic, then do you want to be sick? I mean, you can be sick. We can choose to be sick. A lot of people do. But, you know, I, I want to live every day of my life to the fullest. So I’d rather be as healthy as I can be.

 Surani Fernando: Yeah. Totally makes makes a lot of sense. , and just for your, you know, the listeners out there that, you know, you’ve got your products that you’re selling that, , you mentioned in available in the US mainly. Yes. Right. Yeah. , and then you have the cookbook which everyone can access.

Margie Traxler: Book are available for everybody. Yeah.

 Surani Fernando: What would be like a really like a top favorite recipe that people can make,  can go and look for and try that,  you know, you would really.

Margie Traxler: Yeah. I have three recipes on my website too. And I would say,  honestly, the crepe cake is delicious. And, you know, instead of making a gluten free cake, you know, you can take crepes and you layer them and, and then you can make a crepe cake. And the recipe I came up with, I have a marscapone, which is totally sugar free. And it’s actually plant based too. And so you can make that, make this delicious crepe cake, have that as your birthday meal for that could be one,  another. I have recipes for, you know, muffins that are grain free, gluten free, dairy free, all that. There’s actually such a variety. A lot of it’s normal food. I didn’t want to make weird food. My kids didn’t want to eat, I didn’t want to eat it. And I just, you know, it’s normal. It’s normal food for people. And. Yeah. , so there’s free recipes. That recipe book in the back of the recipe book at what I did is I did an approximate nutrition panel for people, because if they have, you know, they’re under the care of the diet of the doctor, then that helps them decide, is that recipe safe for me now, or do I need to wait six months? But there’s also like a hot fudge in the cookbook, there’s a recipe for a hot fudge sauce made out of honey. There’s caramels. There’s, you know, different kind of crepes. Pizza. I’ve got, , soy free teriyaki sauce recipe in there. I’ve got, you know, there’s so many different recipes that you can incorporate into your regular meals. And, you know, the thing is, I have people over all the time, and they don’t miss any of the rotten ingredients. They don’t know they’re not getting them.

 Surani Fernando: Yeah. That’s amazing. I’ll definitely check that out because I’m always curious of like, you know, DIY making things. , and just to finish off, you know, like, I’m curious about six success stories and you’ve got, you know, your own experiment within your own household, like, how is your daughter’s health now and then your family? Like what sort of changes have you seen.

Margie Traxler: Yeah. All so because I found that out when my kids were young, even though we carry the gene, one of my parents carried the gene for celiac. The other one carries the gene for gluten sensitivity. On my ex-husband’s side of the family. They also have celiac and gluten sensitivity genes. So it’s like a quadruple whammy for us. But none of my children, they’re now 30, 28 and 26, and no one has an autoimmune disease. Nobody has developed anything. We’re all healthy. Wow. Amazing. Everybody’s naturally the way that they should be. , and, , it’s just, you know, we don’t have any health markers. I’m 61. I don’t have zero health markers. I’m not on any medication. I don’t have, you know, and I have friends, you know, like a really good friend of mine was having a lot of mystery illnesses. She didn’t think she had any problem. , she it took her about five years to go. Oh, I think you’re right. And,  and so she actually has several friends that are in this, but they,  they’ve totally identified it. They’re, they’re moving towards actually optimal health. Now, their bodies are recovering from things. They’re naturally shedding weight. And, , isn’t that the best? You know, our bodies. Yeah, that’s the best. Be healthy and happy.

 Surani Fernando: Yeah. That’s amazing. , well, Maggie, thank you so much for joining the podcast today, sharing your insights and expertise. It’s definitely been super eye opening. I mean, I love speaking with people like you just because, you know, I mean, for our listeners, it’s really helpful. But also for myself, you know, I’m learning all the time. So I’m really looking forward to seeing how grain free mamas progresses and hopefully see it in Europe. Hopefully see some of your products in, in,  in stores here. And yeah, wishing you all the best. , you know, really appreciate your time sharing your journey.

Margie Traxler: Thank you so much for having me. I would say too, like, I’m willing to open up an operation anywhere in the world. It’s just a matter of having investment partners. So right now, if if there’s people that are affected by this, that really want to see it happen, I’m open to conversation. But I’m so grateful to be here because,  you know, there’s the business side of me that, you know, is going to grow the business, the businesswoman in me. But then there’s the part of me that has been here since I was a little girl. And my goal has always been to help people be as healthy as they can be and enjoy their life to the full.

 Surani Fernando: Definitely, definitely. And,  for our listeners, you know, you heard that if you want to invest, get in touch with Margie and to learn more about Margie and Go Green Free Mamas, you can visit their website at grain-free. Mamas.com. And don’t forget to follow us on social media! Subscribe to our podcast for more inspiring stories and practical tips on holistic health. I’m Ronnie Fernando, thanks for tuning in to holistic health habits. And until next time, stay healthy and take care. Okay. We’re done.

Margie Traxler: I thank you so much. Talk too much.

 Surani Fernando: So no, this was great. Like, I mean, I could have talked I could talk to you forever just being like, what about this or that? Because , yeah, I’m so tuned into it now. But yeah.

Margie Traxler: You know, what’s so interesting is that I try to give more of the background story of where I went to get to where I got to. Yeah, because when I talk to people, they go, that’s common sense. I’m like, it is. It’s not rocket science. It’s actually common sense.

 Surani Fernando: It is. But I mean, it’s so helpful to hear the story, like going through that and going through a journey and then seeing, you know, the after the aftermath where you’re all healthy. It’s common sense and yeah, we think about it and we’re like, oh yeah, why didn’t we know this? But we have so much, so much information coming at all angles and so much influence. And, you know, it makes you after speaking to a lot of people like you. And for the last year in particular, I’ve done more of my own research on things and, you know, tried to increase my knowledge. And it’s amazing just speaking to friends and like having no idea about certain things that are making them feel the way they’re feeling or. Yeah. , so it’s yeah, it’s definitely we’ve got way too much going on where we just can’t see, like the basic foundation of what we should be doing.

Margie Traxler: Yeah. And I think like in America, they, the FDA put out a guide of,  how many chemicals you can conse in your food and have it not be a problem right? About that.

 Surani Fernando: Yeah yeah yeah.

Margie Traxler: Yeah. No zero zero. But the thing is it’s so you know, it’s so like how many can you. But it’s the same mentality that calls gluten free gluten free when it’s not free of gluten. Yeah. And you know so it’s but my thing is and this is kind of my hope this is between us since we’re not going anywhere with this. But so the model that I’m that I’m moving to is to have my own cafe, because then I can have all the products people that want to,  buy, partly made or fully made for them can get them in the cafe. Plus it gives me my own test kitchen. Plus I can and you know, I do breakfast, lunch and then in the evening I’ll have a whole crew come in in the back of the, you know, on the back side. And they’re going to be producing the dry mixes. Right. So it’s a whole in-house production that I can supply. And what I’m trying to do is to figure out what geographic region, what population base can I supply with that model. Right. So then I’m going to get a stand in that in the like in the, in the airport, which I can supply from my main kitchen. Right.

Margie Traxler: And then little satellite cafes, different places in town. Then what I’m going to do is take that model and I’m going to go into other countries, into other metropolises, but I can, but then I can have figure out how many people physically can I, you know, can I service a population of 5 million? Can I service a population of, you know, 10 million? Can I service a population? So then I know strategically, going forward, I’ve got to have a small satellite operation here and I’ve got to have one here, but then it allows for me to eliminate food waste, which is important for sustaining sustainability. Yeah, yeah. And I can produce on demand and I can produce in-country the mixes that are like, if I’m in Dubai, I need to produce way more garlic and onion crate mixes because that’s one of their favorites, right. If I’m in, you know, a different place. They may want original crepe mix, or they might want the chocolate, or they might want the cinnamon and nutmeg or whatever flavors. But it allows for me to have the ebb and flow of a culture and adapt to what they would use in their culture, instead of trying to shove my ideas down on their culture.

 Surani Fernando: Yeah, that’s I mean, you just said garlic and onion and I just like, got got hungry there. That sounds amazing. , but I can just totally see you going on Shark Tank. Have you thought about that?

Margie Traxler: I actually applied for it, and they didn’t choose me. And I’m going to tell you why. It’s because I’m a solo female founder.

 Surani Fernando: Oh, that’s.

Margie Traxler: I mean, like.

 Surani Fernando: Just I could just totally see, you know, Laurie or Barbara, and Barbara is the food food lady, you know, just totally getting into it. , most.

Margie Traxler: Of the people that are on there are already further along than I am financially. So they come from bigger and, you know, so I’m not putting I’m not going like I would be totally comfortable going and presenting to them. And if they came up with some stupid idea, I’d go, no, I’m not doing that. And, you know, because it’s interesting, I’ve had meetings with Nestlé and General Mills executive people and they’re like, well, tell us how you did it. And I’m like, I’m going to tell you how I did it.

 Surani Fernando: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. But I well yeah, yeah.

Margie Traxler: But it’s I do  I do feel like this is my breakout year. I do, I do feel like this is a better approach and being, you know, going through the pandemic and being part of the sustainable food system dialogs and different things. And, and it just really helped me to realize that, you know, part of our problem that we’re having is the way that we’re approaching making food, you know, export food products is not it’s not cost effective. It’s not good for people. It’s not, you know, you don’t get fresh food. And now we’re making it further. Now appeal is, is, you know, all over the well appeal is a level three aquatic hazard. You know. So the makers of appeal are like oh to the grocery stores. Hey, this is so much better for the environment because you don’t have to rinse it with water. Well, that sounds good. But the reason they don’t want you to rinse it with water is it’ll kill all the aquatic life trailing away from that grocery store. It doesn’t have anything to do with sustainability, has to do with their sustainability of their company, but not the planet. And,  you know, that’s where I’m just like, no, I’m not going to make products that are bad for the planet. I like our planet.

 Surani Fernando: Yeah, yeah. That’s amazing. I love everything about your mission and what you stand for. So I, you know, I think that I can see, you know, with some something like Shark Tank, they often want bigger, something a little bit bigger. So you know, you’ll get there.

Margie Traxler: Get on there. It’d be a hit I do. Yeah. Yeah. I also have to be in a position when I get on there that I can feed the demand.

 Surani Fernando: Yes. Right, right. Yeah. So. Well, this is the year, so I’m wishing you all the best. Thanks so much for the chat. , the team will get in touch with you to let you know when it’s being,  ready to upload where you can do your promotion as well. And then I.

Margie Traxler: We have them on the website too, so you know that people can go on the website under the blog, the resources and they can get to, you know, that’s where we put all the podcasts out. Yeah.

 Surani Fernando: Oh, perfect. Okay. Amazing. All right.

Margie Traxler: Well, yeah, it’s really nice talking to you.

 Surani Fernando: You too. You too. Wishing you all the best. And,  keep in touch. Definitely. We are.

Margie Traxler: Absolutely. It’s got to be like, evening for you. Go enjoy your evening. Yeah.

 Surani Fernando: Actually, I have to get to a Zumba class in the past, so have fun. Yeah. All right. Thank you. See you soon. Bye.